


Blood

by arsenic_bite



Category: Warriors - Erin Hunter
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Tags/warnings/ratings will be updated as I add chapters, Well - Freeform, its not too bad tho, not as bad as it could be
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-24
Updated: 2019-01-21
Packaged: 2019-09-16 11:52:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,501
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16953504
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/arsenic_bite/pseuds/arsenic_bite
Summary: A rewrite of “The Rise of Scourge” influenced by “Warriors: Redux” on tumblr. Go check them out!





	1. Chapter 1

“I’m gonna catch you!” yowled Ruby as she dashed across the carpeted floor after her brother, Socks. When she finally caught up, the dilute tortoiseshell kitten and Socks rolled around in a small ball of fluff and fur, mewling and squeaking. But I didn’t play, they didn’t want me to. I’m too small, too weak. That’s how I got my name, Tiny.

 

I absolutely hate it.

 

Mama Quince notices the look on my face and jumps down from the chair she’s sitting on, padding over to us. “Socks, Ruby, why don’t you let Tiny play with you for a turn?” The two kittens look up.

 

“We don’t like him!” chirped Socks.

 

“Yeah, he’s too small. He’ll just get in the way if we let him play.” Ruby added. I fell my heart sink. A look of disappointment crosses Mama’s face, but she doesn’t say anything. Doesn’t stick up for me. I lift my head towards her, a pleading look on my face. She doesn’t even look at me. So I get up and walk back over to our basket, digging in the blankets to try and make a suitable nest to lay down in. Once I settle down, I close my eyes and begin to dream.

 

_Blood, blood everywhere. I can’t see it, but I can smell it. Why can’t I see? Why can’t I see??? I’m breathing hard, something is terribly wrong. Almost immediately I hear a shriek and the tinkling of a small bell and with that, I wake up._

 

Thrashing out of unconsciousness, I snap open my eyes. My heart’s beating fast from the nightmare I just had and the light of morning is streaming in through the blinds. Looking around I’m the only one in the basket, so I roll out of it and scent around for the others. But as I do, I smell something new, something fresh. I trot over to investigate, finding that the clear wall to the outside has been opened. I can see Socks, Ruby, and Mama outside playing with the humans. They also have one of those bands around their necks like Mama has. _What were they called?_ _Oh yeah, collars._ _I wonder if I’ll get one,_ I think as I stride over as well as my stumpy legs will allow. Over the carpet, past the patio, and onto the grass. Everything is so… _green._ It’s wonderful! All these smells, all these colors, it’s magical. For once in my life everything seems perfect, until,

 

“Hey Tiny, finally got up, did you?” Socks calls out with some venom in his voice.

 

“It would have been better if you hadn’t woken up at all,” Ruby mewls. _She’s probably right._

 

When the humans notice me, they squeal and run over, yapping in their strange language. One of them, the biggest, is waving around a collar. It’s yellow with bees on it, and a small bell is tinkling as it’s shaken. A smaller human scoops me up in her arms, cooing and yapping, all the while making small shushing noises at me. I relish being held for once, a deep purr escaping me. The bigger human feels around my neck with her paws before clicking the collar into place. It’s a bit stifling, but I guess I’ll get used to it. The human holding me coos once more before lowering herself so I can safely jump out of her arms.

 

I hit the grass running as fast as I can, streaking around the yard, bell tinkling furiously. I’m snapping my head back and forth looking for… aha! A hole in the fence. I rush to it, stretching out as I pull myself through it.

 

“Tiny!” Momma yowls. But it’s okay. I know she doesn’t care about me enough to follow me out here. I flash back to what she told me.

 

_“Mama, are there other cats out in the world?” I'm curled up next to her, purring softy at the warmth._

 

_“Yes, Tiny.” She’s looking out the window as she answers._

 

_“Do any cats live… without humans?” I ask without looking up._

 

_“Yes. We call them ‘feral’, and they’re a scourge on the name of all good cats. When you go off to your new home you’ll have to look out for them, okay Tiny?” Her eyes slide over to meet mine._

 

_“Okay!” I chirp happily._

 

I snap back to reality and feel the damp, unkempt grass under my paws as I run towards the treeline. My heart is pounding, the air is so cool and clear, and I feel like this is the only time I’ve been really alive. I past my first tree and a thrum of excitement charges through my body. The noise of my bell is hardly registering to me, I’m so fixated on everything else around me.

 

What do I do first? I skid to a halt, furiously looking around. I see the base of a tree, but there’s no tree attached to it. A… stump? A stump! Yeah! That’s what that is! A purr travels through my whole body as I bound over to it. I get up on my hind legs and try and put my paws on the ledge, but it’s too high. I circle back, energy coursing through me before taking a running leap at the stump, and scrambling to the top. I can hear and smell almost everything from up here! I sit, licking a paw and washing my face. A particularly large gust of wind passes by and ruffles my fur. I feel like I’m on top of a mountain, wind blowing past me. Suddenly, the semi-quiet peace is shattered by the shriek of a bird. I look up and to my horror, see a set of talons swooping down to me. With a high-pitched shriek, I duck down, barely avoiding the crow. It squaks again and flies off. _Hah, hah hah hah. I just survived a monster! Just wait till Socks and Ruby hear about this!_

 

*    *    *

 

“…and then I climbed up a super tall mountain, and a huge billowing gust of wind blew through my fur! I felt like one of those lions from the stories Momma tells us! Oh, oh, and then a ginormous monster swooped down from the trees and tried to kill me! I swear my heart was going to leap out of my chest!” I stopped to catch my breath. I was currently relaying my adventure to the rest of my family, but Ruby didn’t look too pleased.

 

“Yeah, whatever, stupid,” she huffed. My heart sank.

 

“Like that actually happened. You probably got lost and cried like a kitten until you made it back here.” Socks says, ruffling his dark gray fur, his yellow eyes locked onto my pink ones.

 

“Well I think you probably had an amazing time, Tiny,” Mama says, glaring down Socks and Ruby. The latter gives out and indignant “hmf!” and turns to leave. Socks does the same soon after, leaving just me and Momma. I sniffle, and she looks over to me.

 

“Why do they hate me, Momma? What did I ever do wrong?” I ask, despair pulling at my voice.

 

“They don’t hate you, Tiny,” she whispers back. _Liar, of course they do. Who wouldn’t hate a useless runt like me?_

 

“I’m going to bed,” I say quietly, padding over to the human’s lounge chair.

 

“Aren’t you going to sleep in the basket?” Momma asks.

 

“No, I think I’ll sleep under the chair tonight.” My tail is twitching listlessly as a pad over, taking my place next to one of the stumpy legs and curling up against it. With a heavy heart and heavy mind, I close my eyes and go to sleep.


	2. The Forest Cats

It had been a few days since I had first gone out of the house, after I was berated by my siblings for the umpteenth time. I wanted to go outside, but my housefolk hadn’t opened the sliding door. Apparently, today was the day that new housefolk would come and see if they wanted to take me and my siblings. Personally, I thought it would be a wonderful idea if I could have a house to myself. No Socks and Ruby to hurt me, no Mama to stand by and watch without stepping in, just me. Maybe if I was lucky, I’d get a garden to sit in too.

 

“Socks, Ruby, Tiny!” Mama called out, “The new housefolk are here!” Socks and Ruby sprinted out from around the corner. They nearly barreled straight into me, but I leapt out of the way just in time.

 

“Out of our way, Tiny!” yowled Socks.

 

“Yeah, we wanna see the new housefolk first!” continued Ruby. My eyes narrowed.  _ Want to see them first, huh? Too bad, because now I’m going to beat you to them. _ I sprang into action, launching myself after my siblings. My legs were still shorter than theirs, but all that time running in the garden and the forest beyond must have helped, because I caught up to them quite quickly. A streak of white fur with pink pinpoints for eyes, determined to win. I was exhilarated, almost nothing got me this riled up. But for some reason, petty or not, I felt that I had to beat them, just this once.

 

“Wh-  _ Tiny? _ ” Ruby called out from behind me. Skidding to a halt in front of the door where our housefolk were standing. I purred and wound my way around her legs, smirking at Socks and Ruby while she opened the front door. The senses hit me all at once, the scent of new housefolk, young and old, and the outdoors. Clear, fresh, and green. But before I could bolt out, it was shut as quickly as it was opened. The housefolk yapped away in their strange language, engaging in physical contact by throwing their front legs around each other. The young housefolk turned to us, got down low, and started making chirping noises at us. While I mewled back, Socks and Ruby ran over to get petted. Mama came up behind me and nudged me.

 

“Why don’t you go say ‘hi’?” All of the sudden, I realized that I didn’t really care. My only thought was to beat Socks and Ruby and I had done that, so what else should I do?

 

“No,” I answered definitively, a slight edge to my voice. My shoulders hunched, and I slowly padded away.

  
  


* * *

  
  


An hour or so had passed before the housefolk opened up the sliding door, letting the new housefolk outside. As soon I had heard it crack open, I ran to their sides. I rushed out into the garden shooting from one corner to the next. I loved being outside, there was something so freeing about it. Before long, I noticed Socks and Ruby playing with the housefolk, who were holding something long and strange in their paws. Mama came over and explained,

 

“They’re playing a game, Tiny. Go join them.” I had nothing better to do, so I scampered towards them, slowly picking up speed until…  _ fwish! _ I grabbed the feathery thing by the middle and ran off with it. Surely, this is how you play, right? I saw Socks and Ruby batting at it like they weren’t putting any effort into it, so I obviously had to show them how it’s done.

 

“Tiny, are you stupid? You’re playing the game wrong!” yowled Ruby.

 

“Yeah, bring it back so we can play with it the right way!” echoed Socks.  _ But I caught it? _ I thought. Wasn’t that the aim of the game? My ears flicked back, I was suddenly very aware of the fact that everyone was watching me. I dropped the toy, shuffling backwards before turning tail and running towards the hole in the garden fence.

 

“TINY! DON’T YOU DARE—” Mama yowled, but I was already out of earshot, running out into the forest.  _ Why can I never do anything right? _ I think desperately, whiskers twitching. I’m running so fast that I barely catch the scent, but when I do, it’s too late.  _ Forest cats, _ I think, terrified. I scramble to a stop as they emerge from the bushes. A tall silver-blue molly is leading them, followed by a young dark tabby tom and another dark gray and white tabby tom with spiky fur. For a second, we all stand there in stunned silence, neither of us were expecting to encounter each other. The gray and white tabby tom curls his lip as his eyes land on my collar.

 

“Oh look, a kittypet. Trespassing on our territory no less.” The tall molly speaks next.

 

“He’s just a kit, Thistleclaw. He might be lost. Are you?” The younger brown tabby is starting to raise his hackles.

 

“He needs to be taught a lesson,” he growls.

 

“Tigerpaw,” warns the blue molly.

 

“Shut it, Bluefur. This is the perfect time to test my apprentice’s abilities. You’ve always been too soft on…  _ kittypets. _ ” Thistleclaw growls the last word with disdain. This whole time I’ve been silent, still. Hoping that maybe if I don’t move they won’t see me as a threat, or give me time to get away. But before anything like that can happen, Tigerpaw bounds forwards and charges into me, smashing his head into mine. I screech as I’m thrown back, head light and vision blurry from the blow. Before I can recover, he pounces on me, front paw landing on my neck. He brings back his other paw, slicing my ear. I feel a searing pain as hot blood seeps from the wound. I would be breathing hard, but his paw is still on my throat, choking me. I struggle, legs waving feebly, trying to scratch Tigerpaw’s underbelly. Finally, he gets off my neck, but only to rear back and rake both paws, claws unsheathed, down my back. I scream in pain, desperately trying to wriggle out of his grasp.

 

“Tigerpaw! Stop!” commands Bluefur, fear in her voice. But he doesn’t. He grabs me by my collar, throwing me into the air. He’s playing with me, like a mouse. I’m prey. Just a toy to him. When I hit the ground, he lunges for my neck, but his teeth get caught in my collar by mistake. He pulls, unintentionally choking me until  _ SNAP! _ My bell comes off. It rings, the sound sharp in the air.

 

“You’re dead, kittypet,” snarls Tigerpaw, sick excitement showing in his eyes. I close my eyes.  _ I’m going to die. _

 

Suddenly, Tigerpaw is knocked back by a powerful swipe from Bluefur. The molly rears up.

 

“ENOUGH!” she yowls. “He’s had enough, don’t you think?” Bluefur tries to act nonchalant, but her voice is strained. Tigerpaw lets out a huff, disappointed. Thistleclaw sits, gaze cold. My breathing is strained, my lungs wheezing with each breath.

 

“Let’s go,” says Thistleclaw, emotionless. Tigerpaw licks the blood off his paws before getting up and following him. Bluefur goes last. She looks back, concern on her face, but doesn’t do anything. And with that, I slowly fade into unconsciousness.


End file.
